Copyright and Print Reserves

WHAT IS FAIR USE?

U.S. Code Title 17 provides legal definitions on reproducing, sharing, and other uses of copyrighted materials. Section 107 of this law allows for the “fair use” of materials and allows that reproduction for “purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching ... , scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”

This does not mean that faculty, or the library, can just make everything available for free. There are four factors which determine whether use of material is “fair” or not:

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

the nature of the copyrighted work;

amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

WHAT QUALIFIES AS FAIR USE?

An item does not qualify for fair use if:

It is being used for more than one semester.

It is being used for multiple courses in the same semester.

The library or faculty member does not own a lawfully obtained copy.

The items placed on reserve make up a large proportion of the total assigned reading for the course.

Multiple copies of the item are requested.

WHAT IF MY ITEM DOES NOT QUALIFY?

If your item does not meet the Fair Use guidelines, it may still be possible to have it placed on Reserves. In these cases, the library will attempt to obtain copyright clearance from the Copyright Clearance Center at no additional cost to you.

Please note that we may not be able to obtain copyright clearance for all items. In these cases, the library will not be able to place your item on Reserves.

Submitting your item does not guarantee that we will be able to place it on reserves. Please make sure you submit items well in advance of when they are needed in class to allow ample time for alternative solutions if we cannot get clearance.

ARE THERE ANY ALTERNATIVES TO RESERVES?

If copyright fees are too high, you may wish to contact the university book store, which offers several “course packet” services which allow faculty to create custom reading lists for students. Copyright guidelines still apply, but since students are charged for the packets clearance requests are less likely to be denied.

To learn more about creating a course packet through the university bookstore, please contact Angel Covarrubias at extension 3202, or via e-mail at acovarrubias@csudh.edu.